Microsoft Draws Interest With Speech Technology

Computerworld - SAN FRANCISCO -- Seeking to push voice-recognition technology into the mainstream, Microsoft Corp. last week pointed to signs of encouragement as it launched Speech Server 2004 here.
Early adopters that worked with consultants using beta versions of Microsoft's maiden speech software product have either gone live with applications that can recognize speech responses or will soon move beyond the pilot phase. They said their experiences indicate that they will see significant benefits.
Seattle-based Grange Insurance Group predicted a 15% annual recurring return through a reduction in the number of calls its customer service representatives handle, once its 150,000 policyholders get a chance to use the new system. The company is currently piloting a speech-enabled application that lets 750 policyholders check billing information over the telephone by recognizing their responses to questions. Grange is also letting mortgage companies access additional policy information.
An Alternate Route
CIO Ralph Carlile said Grange had planned to make the information accessible through Web-based applications. But he said that once he learned that his company would be able to reuse the development work to also make the information accessible via telephone by speech-enabling the applications, he jumped at the chance to participate in Microsoft's joint development program for Speech Server.
The rationale for adopting Speech Server was similar for the Southwest Alabama Integrated Criminal Justice System. SAICS used Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net development tools to build applications that would provide Web browser-based access to driver's license, Social Security, license plate and other information. But police officers on bicycles and patrol boats don't always have access to computers, so the prospect of letting them get information through voice inquiries made via cell phones was interesting to Jim Pritchett, executive director of Foley, Ala.-based SAICS.
"We were able to take the development tool, Visual Studio, that we were using and initiate the speech application just by building the linkages," Pritchett said. "We don't have to train anybody on anything different."
Microsoft is promoting the lower price of its speech-recognition technology to set its offering apart from those of competitors such as Nuance Communications Inc., ScanSoft Inc. and IBM. But one prominent user pointed out that price isn't the most important criterion when weighing speech-recognition technology.
"The most important thing for me in any speech application is the power and the strength of the speech recognition," said Fari Ebrahimi, an Arlington, Va.-based senior vice president in IT at Verizon Communications. "What matters is, Are we going to give customers an experience they'll really enjoy and [make them] feel thatwe care about them? There's no price to put on that."
Cost was a factor for SAICS, which piloted Nuance's product before opting for Microsoft's. Pritchett said that by using its familiar Visual Studio environment, SAICS was able to develop and deploy its application using Speech Server for at least 50% lower cost and in a quarter of the time. But Pritchett added that price comparisons are tricky, since SAICS got favorable treatment through Microsoft's early-adopter program.